Railway car door fixture



March 21, 1933. G. G. GlLPlN RAILWAY CAR DOOR FIXTURE Original FiledMarch 27, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet l LLII IIIIPQF IPI 1||| imam March 21,1933.

G. G GlLPlN RAILWAY CAR DOOR FIXTURE Original Filed March 27, 1930 2Sheets-Sheet v 2 4 z arrze jzzvenor I; illiii! Garth/6: 6'1'1 in/ 7 aWM? 1..

Patented Mar. 21, 1933 UNITED "STATES PATENT .orr ca 0mm e. mm.arvmismn, rumors, Assmnort 'ro aainwar mar. rnonucrs comm, or cn reaeo,rumors, A conroaa'rron or manawmn RAILWAY can noon. rrx'runn Originalapplication iiled larch 27, 1930, Serial No. 439,398. Divided and this'25, 1982. Serial No. 588,684.

Side doors of railway freight cars are generally arranged to slidehorizontally to open or close the door opening and antifriction rollersare provided between the door and the supporting element to reduce theeffort required to move the door. The inertia of such a door caused bythe sudden stopping or'starting. of the car bangs or slams it againstthe. front or back stop causing damage to-the car and the door andresulting in a'leaky car. Even if the door is locked such inertiacausesoo'nsiderable strain upon the locking mechanism. An object of myinvention is to transfer the weight of the door from the antifrictionrollers to a rigid part of the door and thence directly to the track sothat the tendenc of the door to=move lon tudinally o the track willberesisted %y the friction between such rigid part of the door and thetrack, thereby retaining the door in a predetermined position. It isdesirable to retain the door in a closed p osition or in full openposition; however, my arrangement can be varied to retain the door inany position therebetween. The increased weight of the doors caused bythe metallic reinforcements used thereon and the use of all steel doorshas increased the necessity for such an arrangement.

Another object of the invention is to provide a construction wherein theinertia of the door, due to the movement of the car, is transferred fromthe looking or holding mechanism to a track positioned below the door.

In the drawings:

Fi 1 shows a typical railway car door provlded with my improved doorfixtures.

Fig. 2 shows a modified form of door track.

Figs. 3 and 4 show enlarged vertical sections of detail constructions.

Fig.- 5 shows the relation of the door and the track.

In the drawings Figs. 1, 3, 4 and 5 show a typlcal railway car side doorand the assoclated parts of the car wherein the door -2 is provided'withrollers 3 which run along the tread of the track 4 which is mounted uponthe car-below the vdoor and is supported upon the side sill f the car bybrackets 6. The upper part of the door is retained adjacent the car andis provided with some water-proofing means. A typical arrangement of theupper part of the door is shown in Fig. 4, wherem the top rail 8 isprovided with an outwardly projecting flange 9 which overlies aninwardly projecting flange 10 forming a part of the hood 11, which hoodis secured to the side plate 12 of the car. The door is limited in itsforward movement by the front stop 14, and in its backward movement bythe back stops 15.

The track is provided with interrupted portions, or depressions 25, sopositioned that the rollers on the door are opposite or below theseinterrupted portions when the.

door is in a predetermined position or positions so that the track (orat least the tread thereof) is relieved of the weight upon the roller,which weight is automatically transferred from the roller to theshoulder 36 of the depending arm 31 of the roller bracket 32 whichengages portion 30 of the track 4 so that the tendency of the door tomove longitudinally of the track is frietionally resisted. In otherwords, the

weight of the door is supported by the track independently of therollers. T e depend ing arm 31 extends behind the upstanding flange 30of the door track 4 and retains the rollers in engagement with thetread.

An inclined surface 35 may be provided on the roller bracket 32 whlchengages a part of the track or other car part so as to move the doortoward the car at about the same time the weight of the door is shiftedfrom the roller. It is desirable to move application med January thedoor toward the car when it is in closed position to reduce thepossibility of snow, sparks, etc., from entering the car between thedoor and associated parts of the car. It is also desirable to move thedoor away from the car as it is being moved so as to increase theclearances between the door and the car body.

Fig. 5 is an enlargement of apart of Fig. 1 and shows the relation ofthe door, roller and track.

Fig. 1 shows a track 4 formed of one or more sectionsprovided. withdepressions 25 to relieve the rollers of the weight of the door atpredetermined positions, whereas Fig. 2 shows a modified construction ofthe track 72 wherein the ends 73 of the aligned sections are spacedapart and preferably downwardly deflected at their adjacent ends to formthe depressions or interruptions of the track. The ends of the endsections are also preferably downwardly deflected to provide interruptedportions of the tread of the track. The bracket 74 supports the adjacentdeflected ends of the track sections.

The arrangement may be designed to relieve the rollers of the weight ofthe door at any predetermined position or positions. I prefer, however,to have the roller relieved of the weight of the door when the door isin closed position and also when in fully open position.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the preferred form of theinventlon, though it is to be understood that the invention is notlimited to the exact details of construction shown and described, as itis obvious that various modifications thereof, within the scope of theclaims, will occur to persons skilled in the art.

.This is a division of my co-pending application, Serial No. 439,398,filed March 27, 1930.

I claim:

1. In a railway car, a track having a tread arranged to engage rollerssupporting a door and a member on the door positioned over the track butout of engagement therewith, said tread having interrupted portions ofsufficient depth to allow the door to move downwardly, when the rollersare moved to a position over said interrupted portions of the tread,until said member engages said track and supports the entire weight ofthe door upon the track inde-- pendently of the rollers.

2. In a railway car, a track having a tread arranged to engage rollerssupporting a door and a member on the door positioned over the track butout of engagement therewith, said tread having interrupted portions ofsailicient depth to allow the door to move downwardly, when the rollersare movement of the door longitudinally of the track when the door is insaid position, said interrupted portions of the tread so disposed as toretain said door in full open position and closed position.

3. In a railway car, a track having a tread arranged to engage rollerssupporting a door which are mounted in brackets secured to the door overthe track but out of engagement therewith, said tread having interruptedportions of sufficient depth to allow the door to move downwardly, whenthe rollers are moved to a position over said interrupted portions ofthe tread, until said brackets engage said track and support the entireweight of the door upon the track independently of the rollers andfrictionally resist movement of the door longitudinally of the trackwhen the door is in said position.

4. In a railway car, a track having a tread arranged to engage rollerssupporting a door and a member on the door positioned over said trackbut out of engagement therewith, said tread having interrupted portionsof suflicient depth to allow the door to move downwardly, when therollers are moved to a position over said interrupted portions of thetread, until said member engages said track and supports the entireweight of the door upon the track independently of the rollers, saidtrack comprising a plurality of alined sections having downwardlyinclined treads at their ends forming said interrupted portions.

